Paralysis
by GKingOfFez
Summary: After Temple leaves, Wash and Carolina attempt to remain calm. For the RvB Angst War on Tumblr. SPOILERS FOR RVB15E10 'BATTLESCARS'.


_First Angst War entry! For the prompt: "Carolina and/or Washington angst regarding S15E10."_

 _I waited to post until the episode was out on Youtube, so if you haven't seen it then **SPOILERS AHOY**!_

* * *

Wash isn't panicking.

"You _motherfucker_ get back here, I _swear_ to every single god _if you don't let us go_ -" yells Carolina from somewhere beside him. Wash's visor is stuck facing forward and he cannot turn his head to see her no matter how hard he tries.

He isn't panicking.

"Temple! Temple, if you hurt the reds and blues I will _rip_ you apart limb from limb and make you watch! I will _fuck_ you the _fuck_ up if you even _touch_ them and then I'll make you regret ever killing any of my friends, I swear to _fucking_ -"

"Lina, he's gone," Wash chokes out.

"- _I will kill you_ -"

 ** _"Lina."_**

Carolina lets out another scream of frustration and Wash can hear her rattling about uselessly in her suit, trying to break free, trying to do _anything_.

"I know, I know, _god Wash_ , but what the fuck are we supposed to _do_?" she hisses.

They are both stuck, armour locked in place, limbs raised ready for a fight that hadn't come. Wash had been straining for the past ten minutes to find even a modicum of control, but it is useless. From the corners of his eyes, he can already see the results, he can smell it through the filter on his helmet; a rainbow of different coloured armours, locked and unmoving, strange coffins for the decomposing corpses still inside. What kind of _sick_ , sociopathic asshole did things like-

He gags.

 _Don't panic, **no** , stop it._

"Wash! Wash, are you okay?" asks Carolina, concerned and fretful.

"Yeah. No. _Fuck_."

"Okay, well, uh. At the very least don't go throwing up in your helmet," Lina says with a short huff. It's an old joke, and Wash appreciates that she is trying to inject some humour into the situation.

He swallows back bile. It is hot and acidic in the back of his throat.

"They'll come," he says, forcing conviction into his voice. "The reds and blues, _Tucker_ , they've done it before. We've trained them, they'll be fine."

 _"But what if they aren't?"_ There is something heavy and desperate to Carolina's tone. "Wash, what if they aren't because we were _stupid_ enough to fall for Temple's trap? What if we're stuck down here while they're being slaughtered and-"

 _"Lina,"_ Wash forces through his teeth. "Calm down, we need to stay calm if we're gonna get out of this."

He knows what she's afraid of- the cycle always repeats, gaining families and then losing them, time after time.

 _Not this time, not them._

Wash isn't panicking. He forces his breaths to come out evenly, his chest hitting the inside of his chestplate on each exhale. He's never felt so confined, so trapped within his own armour. It had kept him alive for years, and now it could very well kill him.

"We have to have faith in our friends. They'll get us out of this and keep each other safe, okay. It'll be fine, we'll find a way to- There has t-to be a way out of this," he says, but finds he is mostly trying to reassure himself. He gives his limbs a final, half-hearted pull, and they do not respond.

"Right? This _can't_ be what gets us after everything we've survived. Right Carolina? Carolina?"

Carolina has fallen silent. He wishes he could turn to her, wishes he could reach out. He also wishes he knew what she was thinking. She always had a plan.

Carolina exhales and it sounds painful.

"I… I don't know, Wash. _I just don't know_."

Wash cannot help it; he is surrounded by the rotting bodies of long dead fellow Freelancers, paralysed by his own suit of armour, desperately worrying about the fate of his only friends in the galaxy, and Agent Carolina herself sounds as lost and hopeless as he had ever heard her.

"Oh shit. Shit, shit, oh shit oh shit _oh shit **oh**_ -"

He panics.

* * *

 _Wanted to write this before the new episode came out (for FIRSTs anyway), so if there's any inconsistency with episode 11 that's why._

 _GODDAMN this situation is fucking terrifying, though. I'm hoping Dylan's gonna be the one to save the day, but I'll also take Tucker rushing in with his sword out and ready to cut a bitch. Pls Joe save my children._


End file.
